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Washington Closure Hanford awards $19 million subcontract to local company

10.13.2011

RICHLAND, Wash.—Washington Closure Hanford has awarded a subcontract valued at about $19 million to Phoenix Enterprises NW, a local company.

The subcontract is to remove and dispose of two research reactors, a radioactive waste storage vault and several building slabs, and to clean up waste sites in Hanford’s 300 Area. Optional work potentially could make the subcontract worth up to $24 million.

“Removing the reactors and vault will complete the bulk of the heavily radioactive cleanup work we expect to do in the 300 Area,” said Tom Kisenwether, 300 Area subcontracts manager for Washington Closure.

Washington Closure manages the $2.3 billion River Corridor Closure Project for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. It is the largest environmental cleanup closure project in the nation.

Phoenix will begin work in late October by cleaning up two waste sites near two previously demolished buildings in the 300 Area. The waste sites are at the former locations of the 321 and 3706 buildings, which were used for research and development work. Phoenix will remove an estimated 12,626 tons of contaminated material from the two locations and transport it to Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility for disposal.

Phoenix also will remove more than 22,000 tons of contaminated soil from near the 340 Building. The building received wastes from the 300 Area research laboratories. It contains a vault with two tanks, which were used for temporary storage of highly radioactive liquid waste before it was shipped to the waste tank farms in central Hanford. The tanks have been emptied and filled with grout.

Phoenix will remove and transport the vault/tanks for disposal. “At 1,700 tons, the grout-filled container will be the heaviest item we have transported and shipped to ERDF for disposal,” said Kisenwether. “They’ll also remove and transport for disposal two research reactors.”

The TRIGA Reactor in the 308-A Building weighs about 250 tons and will be placed in a container shipped to ERDF for disposal. The reactor operated in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the fuels and materials research program for Hanford’s Fast Flux Test Facility.

The Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor in the 309 Building, which weighs about 350 tons, will be placed in a container and filled with grout. The transport weight is expected to be about 800 tons. The reactor was built and operated in the 1950s and 1960s to support the development of fuels for the commercial nuclear power industry.

All work under the subcontract is to be complete by September 2012.

Five teams bid on the work. All were technically qualified. Phoenix was the lowest priced bidder. The Phoenix team also includes Barnhart of Memphis, Tennessee; Carter Environmental Services of Nampa, Idaho; Cutting Edge Services Corp. of Batavia, Ohio; LVI Environmental Services of Hayward, California; Meier Enterprises of Kennewick, Washington; and MetalFab Inc. of West Richland, Washington.

Washington Closure is responsible for demolishing 328 contaminated buildings, cleaning up 560 waste sites, placing two plutonium production reactors and one nuclear facility in interim safe storage, and operating ERDF. Washington Closure is owned by URS, Bechtel National and CH2M Hill.